Taxpayer Satisfaction With Public Urban Services in Salt Lake County

Although citizens do not generally consider themselves consumers of public services in the same Sense they consider themselves consumers in the retail marketplace, their demand for public services clearly affects what local government units provide. Citizens are involved daily with the consumption of public urban services; ye t most consumer education textbooks and teaching materials ignore tax supported services. The purpose of this study was to measure the satisfaction of consumers with certain public urban services, public officials, and several units of government. Satisfaction was found to be correlated with age, length of residence in the community and the respondents\u27 attitudes toward elected officials. There was no apparent correlation between satisfaction with services and income, education, or assessed valuation of the respondents\u27 dwellings. Satisfaction scores of the four geographic areas sampled were not significantly different. Respondents did not generally feel they received their money\u27s worth in public services for what they paid in property taxes. They were, however, generally satisfied with the services they received. Respondents also seemed more likely to voice dissatisfaction to retail distributors than to government agencies

Detection of X-ray line emission from the shell of SNR B0540-69.3 with XMM-Newton RGS

We present X-ray observations of PSR 0540-69.3 with the XMM-Newton observatory. The spectra obtained with the Reflection Grating Spectrometer reveal, for the first time, emission from ionized species of O, Ne and Fe originating from the SNR shell. Analysis of the emission line spectrum allows us to derive estimates of the temperature, ionization timescale, abundances, location, and velocity of the emitting gas.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics, letters (XMM issue

A new polygonum from Garfield County, Utah

journal articleThe plant described below was collected 6 miles north of Escalante, Garfield Co., Utah, by W . P. Cottam, Sept. 17, 1935. It was found growing in great abundance along sandy ravines on the rocky Navajo sandstone spur which projects southward from the Aquarius Plateau. The type specimen, No. 65 0 7 , deposited in the University of Utah Herbarium, was collected at an elevation of about 7000 ft. at the specific location of T34S.R.3E

The Burst Spectra of EXO 0748-676 during a Long 2003 XMM-Newton Observation

Gravitationally redshifted absorption lines from highly ionized iron have been previously identified in the burst spectra of the neutron star in EXO 0748-676. To repeat this detection we obtained a long, nearly 600 ks observation of the source with XMM-Newton in 2003. The spectral features seen in the burst spectra from the initial data are not reproduced in the burst spectra from this new data. In this paper we present the spectra from the 2003 observations and discuss the sensitivity of the absorption structure to changes in the photospheric conditions.Comment: 18 Pages, 3 Figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

Manipulating nanoscale structure to control functionality in printed organic photovoltaic, transistor and bioelectronic devices.

Printed electronics is simultaneously one of the most intensely studied emerging research areas in science and technology and one of the fastest growing commercial markets in the world today. For the past decade the potential for organic electronic (OE) materials to revolutionize this printed electronics space has been widely promoted. Such conviction in the potential of these carbon-based semiconducting materials arises from their ability to be dissolved in solution, and thus the exciting possibility of simply printing a range of multifunctional devices onto flexible substrates at high speeds for very low cost using standard roll-to-roll printing techniques. However, the transition from promising laboratory innovations to large scale prototypes requires precise control of nanoscale material and device structure across large areas during printing fabrication. Maintaining this nanoscale material control during printing presents a significant new challenge that demands the coupling of OE materials and devices with clever nanoscience fabrication approaches that are adapted to the limited thermodynamic levers available. In this review we present an update on the strategies and capabilities that are required in order to manipulate the nanoscale structure of large area printed organic photovoltaic (OPV), transistor and bioelectronics devices in order to control their device functionality. This discussion covers a range of efforts to manipulate the electroactive ink materials and their nanostructured assembly into devices, and also device processing strategies to tune the nanoscale material properties and assembly routes through printing fabrication. The review finishes by highlighting progress in printed OE devices that provide a feedback loop between laboratory nanoscience innovations and their feasibility in adapting to large scale printing fabrication. The ability to control material properties on the nanoscale whilst simultaneously printing functional devices on the square metre scale is prompting innovative developments in the targeted nanoscience required for OPV, transistor and biofunctional devices

The Chandra Iron-L X-Ray Line Spectrum of Capella

An analysis of the iron L-shell emission in the publicly available spectrum of the Capella binary system, as obtained by the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer on board the Chandra X-ray Observatory, is presented. The atomic-state model, based on the HULLAC code, is shown to be especially adequate for analyzing high-resolution x-ray spectra of this sort. Almost all of the spectral lines in the 10 - 18 Angstrom wavelength range are identified. It is shown that, for the most part, these lines can be attributed to emission from L-shell iron ions in the Capella coronae. Possibilities for electron temperature diagnostics using line ratios of Fe16+ are demonstrated. It is shown that the observed iron-L spectrum can be reproduced almost entirely by assuming a single electron temperature of kTe= 600 eV. This temperature is consistent with both the measured fractional ion abundances of iron and with the temperature derived from ratios of Fe16+ lines. A volume emission measure of 1053 cm-3 is calculated for the iron L-shell emitting regions of the Capella coronae indicating a rather small volume of 1029 cm3 for the emitting plasma if an electron density of 1012 cm-3 is assumed.Comment: Accepted to Ap

High-Resolution X-Ray Spectroscopy of the Accretion Disk Corona Source 4U 1822-37

We present a preliminary analysis of the X-ray spectrum of the accretion disk corona source, 4U 1822-37, obtained with the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer onboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We detect discrete emission lines from photoionized iron, silicon, magnesium, neon, and oxygen, as well as a bright iron fluorescence line. Phase-resolved spectroscopy suggests that the recombination emission comes from an X-ray illuminated bulge located at the predicted point of impact between the disk and the accretion stream. The fluorescence emission originates in an extended region on the disk that is illuminated by light scattered from the corona.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures; Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Discovery of X-ray absorption features from the dipping low-mass X-ray binary XB 1916-053 with XMM-Newton

We report the discovery of narrow Fe XXV and Fe XXVI K alpha X-ray absorption lines at 6.65 and 6.95 keV in the persistent emission of the dipping low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) XB 1916-053 during an XMM-Newton observation performed in September 2002. In addition, there is marginal evidence for absorption features at 1.48 keV, 2.67 kev, 7.82 keV and 8.29 keV consistent with Mg XII, S XVI, Ni XXVII K alpha and Fe XXVI K beta transitions, respectively. Such absorption lines from highly ionized ions are now observed in a number of high inclination (ie. close to edge-on) LMXBs, such as XB 1916-053, where the inclination is estimated to be between 60-80 degrees. This, together with the lack of any orbital phase dependence of the features (except during dips), suggests that the highly ionized plasma responsible for the absorption lines is located in a cylindrical geometry around the compact object. Using the ratio of Fe XXV and Fe XXVI column densities, we estimate the photo-ionization parameter of the absorbing material to be 10^{3.92} erg cm s^{-1}. Only the Fe XXV line is observed during dipping intervals and the upper-limits to the Fe XXVI column density are consistent with a decrease in the amount of ionization during dipping intervals. This implies the presence of cooler material in the line of sight during dipping. We also report the discovery of a 0.98 keV absorption edge in the persistent emission spectrum. The edge energy decreases to 0.87 keV during deep dipping intervals. The detected feature may result from edges of moderately ionized Ne and/or Fe with the average ionization level decreasing from persistent emission to deep dipping. This is again consistent with the presence of cooler material in the line of sight during dipping.Comment: 13 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Localized magnetoplasmon modes arising from broken translational symmetry in semiconductor superlattices

The electromagnetic propagator associated with the localized collective magnetoplasmon excitations in a semiconductor superlattice with broken translational symmetry, is calculated analytically within linear response theory. We discuss the properties of these collective excitations in both radiative and non-radiative regimes of the electromagnetic spectra. We find that low frequency retarded modes arise when the surface density of carriers at the symmetry breaking layer is lower than the density at the remaining layers. Otherwise a doublet of localized, high-frequency magnetoplasmon-like modes occurs.Comment: Revtex file + separate pdf figure

High-Resolution spectroscopy of the low-mass X-ray binary EXO 0748-67

We present initial results from observations of the low-mass X-ray binary EXO 0748-67 with the Reflection Grating Spectrometer on board the XMM-Newton Observatory. The spectra exhibit discrete structure due to absorption and emission from ionized neon, oxygen, and nitrogen. We use the quantitative constraints imposed by the spectral features to develop an empirical model of the circumsource material. This consists of a thickened accretion disk with emission and absorption in the plasma orbiting high above the binary plane. This model presents challenges to current theories of accretion in X-ray binary systems.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted by A&A letters, XMM special issu